In late December of 2005, my predecessor in the Green Coffee Buyer role purchased fifty bags of Brazilian coffee from a new importer, Sinay Neves Enterprises. Daniel Neves, and his wife Stephanie, reached out to us then because they felt Stone Creek was a company that was in alignment with their values and they believed that we would be a good fit for a relationship. 

Daniel’s family owns and operates the Conquista farm in northern Brazil. The farm is located in the state of Bahia and extends across 850 acres of prime coffee growing land. Stephanie is the founder and Executive Director of Socially Conscious Coffee (SCC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating sustainable prosperity with coffee harvesters, their families, and their communities through education, health care, and environmental stewardship. 

Through our partnership with Sinay Neves, we have purchased 45,000 lbs of coffee each year for the last four years. For every pound purchased, Stone Creek Coffee and Sinay Neves Enterprises have donated $0.10 to Socially Conscious Coffee to help fund the Centro Rural Educafe, a school on the Conquista farm that provides primary education to children and community education on health, hygiene, disease prevention, water and food safety, and environmental stewardship. SCC also operates a healthcare center on the farm for the coffee harvesters, their families and the community. 

In 2006, our owner, Eric Resch, visited the Conquista farm to verify that it met the social, economic and environmental standards of our Socially Responsible Coffee certification program. Since then, we have been in regular contact with Daniel and the farm in Brazil via email and annual meetings here in the States. We continue to receive updates on what his happening on the farm and at Educafe. 

Our original 5 year contract with Sinay Neves Enterprises will expire in 2012, and we are in negotiations to renew so that we may continue this great partnership for many years to come.